When you hear the word “library” what comes to mind? For us it used to mean a big building filled with books. A place where our kids could enjoy activities like story time. A library card. Trying not to forget to return what we borrowed before the due date.

While there are obviously still many libraries around the world that fit the description above, there’s a new crop of libraries popping up, more than 75,000 in 88 countries in fact. These new libraries still have books for you to borrow, but you don’t need a library card. You don’t even need to return them at a certain time, and story time? That’s what happens when you take the book you borrowed and read it to your child.

We’re talking about the non-profit Little Free Library, which, according to their website, is “the world’s largest book-sharing movement.”

If you’ve ever seen what looks like a wooden box, often shaped little a tiny house, on a pole with books inside, you’ve seen a Little Free Library. The books are free for the taking, and anyone can donate books. You can return them whenever you want.

While Little Free Library sells kits to build these little libraries, some people have gotten very, very creative making their own. One that comes to mind is in the stump of a tree that had to be cut down. The homeowner really loved the tree and didn’t want to cut it down, but it was a safety issue. The Little Free Library that now lives inside has truly turned the remaining stump into something unique and special.

Now, another homeowner has done something similar and, dare we say, even more magical. It’s a similar situation where a beloved tree had to be cut down. In this case it was a cottonwood tree that had been on the property for 110 years, more than double the average life of a cottonwood tree.

The homeowners hollowed out the tree and even installed lighting to illuminate the books inside. The finished library truly looks like something out of a fairytale. In fact, we hope that someone donates some fairytales to this library because that would be perfection.

Since Sharalee Armitage Howard posted a picture of her not quite finished Little Free Library on Facebook, it’s been shared over 102,000 times and received positive comments like, “Gorgeous! And very creative.”

Since the original post, Howard has added more pictures showing how the dental work on the trim is really made to look like little books!

More recently, her local news station even made a video about the gorgeous library. You can watch it below.

Do you have a Little Free Library in your neighborhood? If you’d like to start one, you can learn how here.